UAB’s CME Study Receives International Attention
The British Medical Journal's "Learning in Practice: What the Educators Are Saying" section (BMJ 2005;330:405) featured an article from UAB's Division of Continuing Medical Education (CME) on the feasibility of assessing the effectiveness of online CME activities (J Contin Ed Health Prof. 04 Spring;24[2]:68-75).
Commenting on the UAB article, authors John Norcini and M. Brow-nell Anderson say more CME is now delivered online, but there has been little evaluation of this approach. In this study, which used standardized evaluations of 30 different online CME courses, the 720 post-test evaluations showed online programs increased doctors' knowledge and retention.
Specifically, lead author of the UAB study, Linda Casebeer, PhD, says, "Overall mean knowledge scores increased from 58.1% to 75.6% at post-test and then decreased to 68.2% at 4 weeks following the course." Almost all doctors reported changing their practices as a result of the courses. Others participating in the UAB study included Robert E. Kristofco, S. Strasser, M. Reilly, P. Krishnamoorthy, A. Rabin, S. Zheng, S. Karp, and L. Myers.
The BMJ article concludes, "Standardized evaluation could be done online, allowing comparisons between different providers and courses. With practitioners under pressure to increase productivity, providing a valid approach to CME online is important."
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